I hate to say this, but I do sort of think Batman: Mask of the Phantasm ripped off Batman Returns a bit. Both female leads, Andrea and Selina go out at the end with a huge bang taking the main villains they wanted revenge on with them, and both are given a scene at the end of the movie that pretty much tells you they're alive. This is so similar for both movies, and the fact Returns came out in 1992 and Phantasm in 1993, that it's hard for me to write it off.

...

Phantasm did it better anyway because Hamill's Joker was laughing at the time. Walken turned into a dead guy and he wasn't Mark Hamill playing the Joker, therefore he was not Mark Hamill laughing. This alone is enough to write off Batman Returns whatsoever, because it didn't have Mark Hamill laughing, the abomination.

After watching the first movie several times, I ended up never wanting to watch it for a while, because I was genuinely scared of the joker. It was that smile that got to me. That resulted in me being afraid of clowns. Anyways, I got over that a while ago, so I'm good now, and funny enough its my favourite of the 4 Batman films. The Dark Knight is my all-time favourite though.

After watching the first movie several times, I ended up never wanting to watch it for a while, because I was genuinely scared of the joker. It was that smile that got to me. That resulted in me being afraid of clowns.

I've always found it funny that so many people were traumatized by scary clowns as children, since for me, it just cemented my love of them. Seeing Killer Klowns From Outer Space and Batman as a kid pretty much made me a diehard fan of evil clowns.